Greenalls recruits ex-Guinness boss Pate
Greenalls, the leisure group, has appointed former Guinness marketing director Brian Pate as marketing and commercial director for its pubs and restaurants arm.
Pate joins as Greenalls tries to rebuild its image with the City after a poor performance last year. This was blamed on the managed pubs, and was accompanied by a string of top management departures.
Greenalls Pubs & Restaurants chief executive Roger Young says: “The managed houses performance was not as strong as we would have liked. Brian will add extra marketing weight to our brands and concepts.” He says capital investment is being increased to 110m from about 85m the year before.
Pate will be responsible for just under 800 managed pubs and restaurants, with branded outlets including 89 Millers Kitchen, Premier Lodges, 45 Henry’s Table, seven Quincey’s and 11 Squares.
He joins fresh from Guinness in Japan, where he was a director. He started working for Guinness in 1986, and was brands director before becoming marketing director for Guinness International in 1991, and marketing director for Guinness Asia Pacific in 1992.
The Greenalls post has been vacant for some months. It was held by Nader Haghighi, who led a 56m management buyout of the Greenalls Cellars off-licence chain last September. Marketing chief Julie Brook left in November after learning she would not get the post.
